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Afghanistan (its capital Kabul) and neighboring states
Country Comparisons:
2010: see chart (lower)
World Factbook: "Afghanistan's economy is recovering from decades of conflict. The economy has improved significantly since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 largely because of the infusion of international assistance, the recovery of the agricultural sector, and service sector growth."
Afghanistan receives financial aid from the Reconstruction Trust Fund and the Law and Order Trust Fund.
Afghanistan is described as the worst place for giving birth. A study from UK charity "Save the Children" describes one in 11 women dying from complications during pregnancy and childbirth. (Reported April 1, 2011)
Import/export
2008: imports $5.3 billion, exports $547 million -- a terrible imbalance. The largest export is opium. There are also fruits and nuts, handwoven carpets, wool, cotton, hides and pelts, precious and semi-precious gems.
Ethnicities
Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%,
Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%.
Deaths and births
2011 estimates per 1,000 population: deaths 17.39, births 37.83
Workforce
2008: 78.6% in agriculture, 5.7% industry, 15.7% services.
East of Iran. West of Pakistan. Landlocked. Slightly smaller than Texas. Mostly rugged mountains.
Warlords (regional commanders) dominate most of Afghanistan. President Harmad Karzai rules in Kabul and is supported by European powers and the United States.
The president and two vice presidents are elected by direct vote for a five-year term.
Capital: Kabul
Oct 28, 2008: A U.S. funded survey in Afghanistan finds that 70 % of respondents judge the availability of education for children "to be good," and 44 % say there have been "improvements in access to schools in the last two years." Around 6 million Afghan children, including 2 million girls, are now going to school every year. During the Taliban's regime only 1 million boys went to school.
November 18, 2010: Disagreements exists about how many Afghanis support the presence of U.S. troops. In the Intelligence Squared debate on November 10, on whether Afghanistan was a "lost cause," Max Boot and Peter Bergen argued that 60% of Afghans support the presence of NATO troops in their country and only 4% support a return to power by the Taliban. The journalist-scholar Nil Rosen criticized those figures and claimed that a more accurate measure could be gathered by going into villages, without military accompaniment, and talking to common people -- as he has been doing. Rosen described 80% of the population as under Taliban control.
November 21, 2010: The debate described below continues on Fareed Zakaria's CNN broadcast. Nir Rosen argues again that polls on Afghan opinion are not what polls are supposed to be -- in other words, those polls are nonsense. He argues that ultimately what develops in Afghanistan will be a product of the Afghans and that Afghan warlords supporting us are after the dollars that Americans are splashing around. Rachel Reid, of Human Rights Watch, speaks of her experience in Afghanistan and people feeling caught between forces rather than supporting the government. The question is asked, and not answered, why it is that the Taliban can walk into a village and take it over without resistance. Max Boot takes the side of NATO operations and the new surge in U.S. troops. He says in effect that we have just begun to fight. He argues about the importance of America's prestige, and Rosen points to the U.S. recovery from its Vietnam debacle.
Video
Intelligence Squared debate on the motion "Afghanistan is a lost cause."
Copyright © 2009-2011 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.